Big "D" Half Marathon

Well, as you know, on my bucket list was a FULLmarathon and then purposely only AFTER that feat was completed, run a measly half marathon. A few weeks ago, Blake and I accomplished this along with our long time friends, Kelly and Andy.

I was so happy that I had already completed the full nearly five months ago, because training for this run, was VERY laid back; too laid back. At most, I ran 2 times a week for the 8 weeks prior to the race. I took the advice of a flight attendant I met almost a year ago who ran marathons with a busy travel schedule. She told me, "as long as you get your long run in each week, you'll be golden." Well, I followed her bare minimum advice and was kinda worried towards the end that I wouldn't be able to even cross the finish line.

Kelly & Andy had talked about running the full with us last year but unfortunately they weren't able to, so when I found a race in Dallas after we alread had plans to be there visiting family, we asked Kelly and Andy again and they were all in. Although we didn't train together or even now how much each person had trained until the week of, we were happy to have them with us for the big day!

Waking everyone up bright and early!

Throughout the weekend, the Midwest had been experiencing record breaking storms filled with hundreds of tornadoes, torrential down pours and severe thunder storms. We monitored the weather for 24 hours and had been told there was a good chance it would be canceled last minute Sunday morning at day break. I wouldn't believe it and kept telling myself, I was running 13.1 miles NO MATTER what kind of weather.

Leaving out hotel room for the race while it was raining.

We woke up at 5:50AM Sunday morning right as the storm line was hitting Dallas, it did start raining but it was nothing like Kansas had experienced over night. With rain coming down, the four of us headed to the Dallas Fair Grounds to wait to see what the weather was going to do.

The four of us "before."

At 8AM, the rain had stopped and we were off. It was getting hot and oh, so humid. Kelly and I had never even talked about goal pace until we were at the start line. At this point, a PR (personal record), in these conditions wasn't on my mind. As we got towards the middle of the race, a cool front blew in while we were running near White Rock Lake and it felt INCREDIBLE. I had this amazing burst of energy and started thinking, this could be a great run. Then the rain started at mile 6 or 7 and honestly, it felt GREAT! I was wearing a hat, so it wasn't bothering me. I prayed that the rain would continue withe the super cool breeze because I was afraid of what the humidity would do, if the sun came out. I felt so energized and was enjoying everything about the run.

Kelly was by my side and starting with the rain, her legs and calves were giving her problems. I tried to remember all my training tips I read and was trying to help her out, throwing out ideas left and right. She would stop to walk and I would keep jogging, doubling back once I got too far from her. The following 3-4 miles, I couldn't get a feel for how she was or what she was thinking. I would keep trying to get her to think about anything but running, like the beautiful Highland Park homes and what people were wearing but I never got a response from her.

During this time, while she was walking more and more, I didn't know if she wanted me to go on, since we knew her dad was behind us a little ways. I never asked her and then something clicked for me, around mile 11, as she was having more and more problems; This was my race, not to take advantage of this amazing amount of energy that I had at mile 11 of a 13.1 mile race. I could have easily sprinted ahead and tried to catch the pacer who had passed us 4 miles back. This was my race to help a good friend finish a race when everything was telling her to stop. It was exciting and I probably ran a couple of the last miles backwards, talking to her and begging her to keep going. I decided I was going to be in-her-face-screaming-supportive-running-friend until she told me to run ahead and just go. And thank goodness, she never did tell me to go ahead.

I probably told her only one more mile for the last three, once closer to the finish line, I ran ahead and yelled to the crowd to scream for "KELLY," before doubling back to grab her hand and drag her. It felt amazing holding her hand as we crossed the finish line together and I was so HAPPY that she hadn't told me to run on at MILE 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13. Because of her, I got to experience the high of helping someone finish a race and that felt just as good as crossing the finish line myself.

**In full disclosure, because of how great I felt physically and energy wise, I am terribly excited about running another half and really giving it all I have to see what can do. I'm still on the quest for the perfect running weather as well!**

The Aftermath Of A Marathon & Most Common Questions

On my current bucket list of 38 items, this one was PRETTY darn high up there...


1. Ride in a hot air balloon
2. Run a half marathon
3. Complete a full marathon - 11.13.11 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon w/ Blake
4. Trip to South Africa complete with safari when kids are older
5. Trip to Australia as a couple


I will say recovery was difficult.
 
After crossing the finish line, I had a urge to take off my socks which were drenched with sweat. Once I looked down, I noticed 2 ENORMOUS blisters ballooned up nearly an inch above each toe. They didn't hurt but the sheer size of them told me I should get these things taken care of now at a Medical tent versus having to visit a doctor the next week. Once they were popped, is when the pain started. Nine days later, they are my only memento of my race. They finally seem to be beginning to heal. I have learned now that I should have used that Vaseline Blake was eating, on my toes, instead!!!

Body part wise, nothing specific hurt. I had absolutely NO knee or outer hip IT band pain.... hallelujah! I didn't even have a split second of calf pain, I can't even believe that!That was all due to the best item I purchased during my entire 16 weeks of training, the calf compression sleeves. What was debilitating for the following 3 FULL days was good ol' quad pain. I mean burning, on fire, even after a massage, 2 days later kind of pain. I wish I had full COMPRESSION pants... I swear, I would have worn them the entire race!
 
Recovery wouldn't have been difficult if it was just for the severe quad pain. The issues came when I decided, after 5 full days before and during the marathon, of chugging water and Gatorade like my life depended on it, to drop the ball and literally not pick up a drink for 24 hours. I was so sick of drinking water and holding a water bottle, I just didn't. This was HUGE mistake. Thank goodness I was off work both Monday and Tuesday because when Tuesday morning came around, I was a mess. I could hardly make complete sentences. I felt just mentally tired. I didn't understand why nearly 48 hours after the race, I was starting to feel worse and not better. By Tuesday night, I had figured out that I was having symptoms of dehydration so I decided to focus once again on good amounts of water and guess what happened.... Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling like a new woman! So KEY LESSON HERE: Don't forget the days AFTER a marathon to drink to fully rehydrate, especially when it was as insanely hot and humid has it had been this year.


In the last nine day, since completing the marathon, these are the most common questions I have received...

1.) You ran the full marathon or just the half? (the number one question I get!)
Yes, I ran the full. That is 26.2 miles. I heard there were 30,000 entrants and of that, only 4,040 completed the FULL Marathon.

2.) Will you do it again?
Honestly, I don't think so. For me, running 26.2 miles was more a of a personal challenge and now that I know I can do it relatively easily, I kinda feel like "been there, done that, got the t-shirt (and more importantly the 26.2 mile sticker) in this case! It wasn't the time of training that bothers me, in fact, I looked forward to that time each week, it's more the damage I feel like I'm doing to my body. I never had any injuries training until I started training regularly over 14 miles each week and I personally believe that God only gave me 1 body and I better take care of it. I don't want to be one of those 50 year olds always complaining about some nagging pain or injury, if I can help it. However, HALF marathons seem EASY and FUN, now in comparison. So, I can definitely see myself doing one or two of those a year!!!

3.) Are you happy with your time?
My official time was 4 hours, 48 minutes and 31 seconds.
HONESTLY, I have been rounding to 4 hours and 45 minutes when people ask. Simply because it's easier and I stopped for 6 minutes during the race, I don't think I should technically count the 2 minute bathroom break at mile 7, 2 minute bathroom stop at mile 19, and 2 minute stop at mile 21 to say hi to family and friends. So, then it technically took 4:42:31 to run 26.2 miles which is 10:47 pace per mile. This was my EXACT training pace time for ALL my long runs, which of course, included warming up and everything. So with a deep chest cold and nasal congestion, I AM BEYOND THRILLED WITH MY TIME!!!! Yes, I think I could have done it 10 minutes faster if I had been at 100% health-wise and perhaps I could have shaved another 7 minutes, if the weather had been perfectly crisp and cool... but it is what it is and I am beyond content!! NO REGRETS!!!

Our Pace Per Mile 

1. 9:58
2. 10:02
3. 10:14
4. 10:08 - I remember telling Blake 4-5 times up to this point to SLOW down, that we were pacing way too fast.
5. 10:20
6. 10:04
7. 10:12
8. 9:58
9. 10:03
10. 10:19
11. 10:21
12. 10:25
13. 10:26
14. 10:42
15. 10:31
16. 10:51
17. 10:48
18. 11:02 (including 2 min bathroom stop)
19. 11:22
20. 11:31
21. 11:26 (including 2 min stop to see family and friends)
22. 11:29 - The HARDEST part
23. 4:42 (walked about 3/4 of a mile) THE HARDEST
24. 12:03
25. 11:56
26. 11:06
27. last .2 = 2:09 or about a 10:36 pace. (Man... it felt like I was pushing it way harder than that!!! ;)

4.) Did you hear about the guy that died?
Yes! And it honestly, freaked me out. Besides the 6 GU's I consumed in just 2.5 hours time, this breaking news at 5:30 PM on Sunday shook me to the core. This was in part why I couldn't sleep for 31 hours until Monday around 2PM. This guy was my age, a surgical nurse, a long-time runner who had run the half the previous year and ultimatley, they couldn't find any conclusive issue. Yet, another reason, I value my life and don't want to press my luck on multiple marathons. ;)

What did I learn from this whole experience? (No, no one has asked me this, rather, I continously asked myself this question during the entire process to make sure that I was really getting the most out of it.)
I learned that what I put my mind to, I can achieve. Even the biggest physical stretch goal imaginable, with dedication and commitment, it can be done. I have learned that I am stronger than I ever thought both physically and mentally.

Getting To The Finish Line.

Let's just start this journal entry with the best and most true tip I heard while preparing for a full marathon: "A marathon's half way point is not 13.1, it is mile 20."

Mile 22-23 was BY FAR, THE MOST DIFFICULT. I don't think we "hit the wall," because I never once doubted we would ultimately cross the finish line. But with the excitement of seeing our family at mile 21, all that was ahead of us for the next hour was hot pavement.

I started getting chills and feeling a tiny bit nauseous, so we stopped in at a medical tent to grab a bag of ice. We decided to walk briskly for about 3/4 of a mile keeping the bag of ice on our head, around our neck or under our arms trying to cool down our core body temperature after four STRAIGHT hours of running. It worked, so with in a few minutes, when we saw the 23 mile marker, we felt motivated again to run knowing we were about 30 minutes away.

We didn't know at that point, we had not one, BUT 2 more surprises waiting for us to give us the perfect amount of motivation to pick up the pace. Just before getting back into downtown, I looked up and saw my good girlfriend Cindy Sebek and her boyfriend Dirk, waiting for us, cheering us on! Wow... talk about unexpected lift at mile 23.5!!!

Then about a mile later at 24.5, I heard a familiar voice and up ahead cheering on the runners in front of us was my good friend of 7 years, Dr. Stephen Ramirez. He had been the one that had come through for me just 24 hours earlier, giving me the tools to be able to heal my body and be able to even attempt to run this race. And there he was, surprising me and standing at the perfect point in the race, cheering both Blake and I on to the finish, which was just down the street. For him not to even know what pace we had trained at or what time we had started, was amazing. Blake and I both had a great burst of energy after seeing him. I was ready, at mile 25 to pick up the pace. Blake, on the other hand, was hurting.

Let me remind everyone, before I move on with the story, Blake trained literally 50% of what I did. He hardly ran the last 4-5 weeks except maybe one medium size run a week. He told me he was having some back pain at that point but he was keeping up. I told him, "This is it, everything that we have worked for within 15 minutes of here... can you pick up the pace because we will never have to run again if we don't want to." He said he needed to get in the zone, he did and for about a third of the mile he was sprinting up ahead of me but then he stopped to a walk and I knew he was in severe pain. But I also knew, how close we were. I felt really torn. I knew how close we were and how strong and competitive my husband is. 

We did run and at about the 25.5 mile marker, I felt like I knew him well enough, if I ran up a little ahead of him, he would catch up! So we turned north on the access road of Interstate 35, along side the Alamo Dome and I kicked it up to a fast run and kept looking back to see what he was doing. Blake was trying to keep up and was nearby. I kept it up and turned right to go along the north part of the Alamo Dome, down a nice hill, shaded by a bridge, at mile marker 26, I was in a full sprint and Blake was trying to. I will always remember Blake had nearly caught up to me after 26 and yelled a at that point, "WHAT THE HECK.... where is it??? (referring to the finish line.) The finish line was no where in direct sight and that had to be one of the most demotivating moments in the entire race. Not only was the finish line around another corner of the Alamo Dome (on the east side) it was up a BIG HILL (the steapest of the entire race.) I remember people along the sides, yelling my name and I was searching the crowd for our family and friends. I kept looking at people who were yelling "Megan" and remembered, I had my name on my shorts. (Several people had told me to do that for the finish line because you will have people cheering you on!) It worked but I was SO confused... too funny.

I kept looking back at Blake who was sliding a little farther back. Once we had the finish line in sight, I took a chance again and put it back in to high gear with a sprint hoping that Blake would do the same as he had done before, now that he could see that it really was the end this time. Poor guy was in a ton of pain.

Our group patiently waiting for us just past the finish line.

Megan crossing the finish line...

Blake just a few seconds behind...

Getting my medal.

Our fans at the finish!!!! Love each one of them SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

My mom helping me cool down with ice!

During The Race Up To Mile 21.

The first ten miles went by in a snap. Seriously. We were so busy watching the other runners, taking in the sights of down town and watching the amazing crowds filled with hysterical signs like, "Run Your Race Better Than Perry Has Run His," "26.2 Because 26.3 Is Just Crazy!" "My Wife Ran 26.2 Miles This Morning, What Did Yours Do?"

I loved the fact that I was taking in everything... not focusing on me running or my body, but yet my surroundings. The volunteers were AMAZING and every mile there were some lined up just before water stations holding sticks and packets of salt, yelling "SALT!" Blake and I had talked earlier in the run and even though we had never trained taking salt, we decided we should do it with the extreme heat and humidity that morning. Blake ran ahead and grabbed some salt and we met up a few minutes later after getting some water and he said while repetitively spitting, "What kind of salt is that? It's like jelly." I told him the sticks had Vaseline on them for chaffing." He had EATEN Vaseline.... as I guess the SALT packet guy was yelling louder than the Vaseline guy was standing next to him. It was too funny and provided a funny moment around mile 7.

I did get so carried away in giving the kids along the sides high fives and telling the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers thank you, that I nearly twisted my ankle in our city's wonderful selection of pot holes a couple of times. Running this race had been so amazing and so easy. Easy until the heat set in around mile 16 or 17 (10:40ishAM), that's when Blake and I both realized that this wasn't going to be that easy to the end. By that point, we were way south of downtown on Mission Rd probably in front of one of the missions.

I think this was around mile 19!!!

We slowed our pace and I was confident that the tortoise would win this race. See I had never trained in the day light hours, much less the extreme heat advisory we were in with the humidity in the air. All my runs were at 5AM and even the longest ones, were over soon after the sun's arrival. Even with a hat, glasses and SPF 40 on my face, I looked like a tomato the following day.

We kept running because we knew what we had waiting at mile 21 - OUR BIGGEST FANS!!! I can't tell you how much it meant to have BOTH our MOMS, our kids, my sister - Erin, The Perkins and The Putnicki's there waiting on us and cheering us on.

Everyone had their eyes peeled looking for us.

The girls assumed their positions on the side of Mission Rd at Southcross.

They told us later, they thought they saw us a dozen times before we actually got there.

Everyone had spent an amazing amount of time and energy making us signs that we will always remember.

For some reason, I have a tear in my eye, looking at this one, even a week after the fact...

Carter with the sign he and his teachers made for me that week before at school.

I spotted my mom way far away and when she saw us, she ran to the others to let them know, we were really there! I love this picture of her trying to alert the group...

We had smiles on our face at mile 21!

I love Addie's smile here. I pray she will always see that she can achieve ANYTHING she sets her mind to in life.

Thank you to Megan Perkins for documenting this amazing event in our life and we are off... only 5 more miles to go!!!